Thought Dodge (Laysla de Oliveira) was bad on Netflix’s Locke & Key? Wait until you meet Captain Frederick Gideon (Kevin Durand). Spoilers past this point, but in Season 2 of the hit series, we met the sadistic redcoat who will be menacing Matheson, Massachusetts in Season 3 of the series. And he’s about to bring the pain to everyone.
“It’s a lot of havoc,” co-showrunner Carlton Cuse teased to Decider. “I would say it’s like an eight on the havoc scale, possibly even a ten by the end of the season.”
Right in the first scene of Season 2, we’re introduced to Gideon, who is leading a small troop of British soldiers into the sea caves below Keyhouse in the 1700s. There, he discovers a portal that will eventually become The Black Door, an entrance to a demon dimension that both infects humans, and provides Whispering Iron, the material that makes the series’ magical keys. Seeing what the demons do to people, he purposefully infects himself in order to escape from attacking American soldiers. He fails, is captured, and ultimately dies in the well house outside Keyhouse, but not before leaving a journal and a piece of whispering iron that’s later found by history teacher Josh (Brendan Hines).
That in turns leads Josh to team up with the demon-infected Eden (Hallea Jones) in the present day, which is how Eden discovers the history of Gideon. And in the final moments of the season, Eden manages to resurrect Gideon in the form of an echo in well house. Gideon, as thanks, dumps Eden down the well, and exits the building using the Anywhere Key.
Oh, and also? Eden recognizes the demon infecting Gideon before she’s unceremoniously murdered… And it is seriously bad news.
“What you’re going to learn is that there is a bigger, badder demon than Dodge, that comes from that other side,” co-showrunner Meredith Averill added.
That bigger, badder demon will be played by veteran actor Kevin Durand, who Cuse called “really formidable.” But it’s a surprising twist not just for fans of the show, but for fans of the comics source material by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, which sticks with Dodge as the main baddie through six volumes.
“We wanted to … figure out how do we raise the stakes,” Cuse said. “The Dodge storyline felt to us like we played that out… Let’s see who the ultimate bad guy is, and what happens to our characters when they’re confronted with him.”
Season 3 of Locke & Key already finished production, so technically the Locke family has already confronted — and potentially dispatched — Gideon. But according to the stars, viewers may not be ready for what Gideon is about to do.
“Just you wait,” teased Darby Stanchfield, who plays Nina Locke on the series. “All I have to say is, just you wait. He is the scariest.”
Added Connor Jessup, who plays eldest child Tyler Locke, “He makes Dodge look like a dime store imitation villain. He does not mess around.”
Locke & Key Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.
